It is the last day of Gay Pride Month, and we should remind ourselves that our LGBT family, friends and neighbors still have a little ways to go to be able to enjoy all of the rights the rest of us do. If you haven’t signed the Delaware Marriage Equality Petition, please click on the link below and add your name to the 7700+ Delawareans who want to see gay marriage legal in this state.

This week, the President made his weekly address from Colorado where fires are devastating communities and putting many more at risk. He thanks the firefighters risking their lives to help contain these fires and the volunteers helping those who have lost their homes or are evacuated from them. At the end of this post, I include links to some of the organizations on the ground helping Coloradans to cope with this disaster. Help out if you can.

Moving day for me. If I read my new redistricting maps correctly, my new representatives in the General Assembly are Senator Cathy Cloutier (R-5th) and Representative Debbie Hudson Capano or Debbie Capano Hudson (R-12th). Ugh. Quite a change from Margaret Rose Henry and Dennis P. Williams.

Well, perhaps in 2014 I will take out Debbie, if no Democrat files and wins this year.

Don’t know who your legistatlor is? Find them here. You have to be registered to vote for that link to work. If you are not registered to vote, then what the hell are you doing being interested in politics and reading Delaware Liberal and not being registered?? It boggles my mind. Go here now. Register. Don’t do anything else until you do.

To its credit, the House, as opposed to the shrouded-in-secrecy Senate, has an Agenda. Also to its credit, more specifically, Speaker Gilligan’s, the House has already gotten the retirement festivities out of the way. Former Speaker Terry Spence used to futz around for hours on end on June 30, with endless hosannas to retiring House members, said hosannas often sung by (I’m not making this up) an Elvis impersonator. Self-indulgence at its worst. I was working in the Senate at the time, and we used to stew at this turning the ‘people’s business’ into some freak sideshow for two hours every June 30.

We get press releases from candidates all the time, as do every other media outlet. It is exceedingly rare, however, that someone’s campaign manager sends out a press release announcing that someone’s campaign manager will be someone’s campaign manager. And for good reason. Good campaign managers know that there is only one candidate and only one campaign manager, and that all the focus should be on the candidate. That, however, did not stop Ezra Temko from announcing that he, Ezra Temko, would be managing the campaign of Claudia Bock for State Representative in the 23rd RD. Perhaps fittingly, Temko spends at least the first 50% of the press release talking about himself, Ezra Temko, and his ongoing search for enlightenment.

One of our readers, Brooke Bovard, has written this guest post. Delaware, as a ‘blue’ state, and without much to steal, is new to the game of being targeted by the Right. Sure, they tried to foist Christine O’Donnell on us, but they can’t be trying too hard, right? Sadly, wrong. A case in point […]

The House voted to hold AG Holder in contempt anyway, for a wingnut conspiracy-fueled version of Fast and Furious. A version that has been exposed as largely a fabrication (surprise!) by this great bit of reporting from Fortune.

Today is supposed to be the last day of this Supreme Court session so all of the breathless press vamping waiting on the ACA decision officially turns into lots of breathless punditry sometime after 10AM today. I’m posting this thread for everyone to have a place to start posting your own prognostications and links to people who are doing a good job at discussing the issues involved.

Four Senate grandstanders voted against the Budget Bill. Won’t stop ‘em from bragging to their constituents about what they’re bringing home to the district. Hypocrites. The four nos: Bonini, Lawson, Katz, and Booth. Meaning that Booth voted against funding for his beloved Sussex Vo-Tech although, to be fair, there sure is some wasteful spending there. In this case, every penny being paid to double-dipper Joe Booth.

Republicans always talk about the 47% who don’t pay taxes, and are now saying taxes must be raised on the poor so that they pay their fair share. It never occurs to them that maybe they don’t make enough money to even pay tax. Meanwhile, those who make hundreds of millions if not billions are also not paying any taxes, and yet the Republicans are fighting tooth and nail to make sure it stays that way.

The Senate defeated Rep. Longhurst’s ‘Fuck the Doomed’ bill yesterday. 9 Y, 10 N, 2 Hiding in the Restroom. My guess is that the votes are there. Especially once Delmarva breaks out its/their checkbooks. Perhaps in the rest room. Legislators have been known to stake out ‘wide stances’ on issues like this, and don’t object to manipulation. Joe Farley, Delmarva’s ‘Democratic’ lobbyist, will be working OT to earn his blood money today. BTW, is this really the kind of bill that a supposed member of the House Democratic Caucus leadership team should be sponsoring? Betcha it passes. Hope it doesn’t. Memo to Longhurst primary opponent James Burton: Make this a campaign issue. I’ll even toss off the ‘money’ sentence for you…”What sort of Democrat would sponsor the terminating of life-saving utilities to seriously-ill patients?” You’re welcome.

As you may know, PDD President Paul Baumbach has thrown his hat into the race to succeed Representative Terry Schooley in the 23rd RD. He will formally announce his candidacy for State Representative of the 23rd District at 11AM tomorrow, June 28th at the Newark Senior Center. The Newark Senior Center is located at 200 White Chapel Drive, and the announcement is open to the media and the public.